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Hearing Transcript 1 1 CITY OF NEW YORK 2 2012-2013 DISTRICTING COMMISSION 3 PUBLIC MEETING 4 Staten Island Borough Hall 5 10 Richmond Terrace 6 Staten Island, New York 10301 7 August 20, 2012 8 5:15 P.M. 9 10 IN ATTENDANCE: 11 JUSTIN YU 12 MADELINE PROVENZANO 13 JAMILA PONTON BRAGG 14 LINDA LIN 15 GLORIA CARVAJAL WOLFE 16 ROXANNE J. PERSAUD 17 BENITO ROMANO, Chair 18 OSCAR ODOM, III 19 SCOTT CERULLO 20 KAMILLAH M. HANKS 21 THOMAS V. OGNIBENE 22 MARC WURZEL 23 ROBERT HART 24 25 DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 1 2 DISTRICTING COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING 1 MR. ROMANO: Good evening and thank you for 2 coming tonight. Welcome to the New York City 3 Districting Commission's public hearing. And a 4 specifically thanks to James Molinaro, borough 5 president, for hosting us tonight. My name is 6 Benito Romano and I am the chair of the New York 7 City Districting Commission. 8 We have this facility until 9:00, although 9 we may -- it looks like we are going to finish 10 earlier. I want to make sure we hear from 11 everyone who has signed up. For those who did 12 not sign up and wish to speak, please see one of 13 the Districting Commission staff to register. 14 There is Jonathan Ettricks, who is around. 15 There he is, okay, and Brian Flynn is here, and 16 Shirley Malone. See any one of them to register 17 to speak. If you require translation for your 18 statement, please let the staff at the 19 registration desk know. They will ensure that a 20 translator will be provided when it is your turn 21 to speak. 22 Before we begin to take testimony, I would 23 like to make a few opening comments. At the 24 beginning of August, the Commission advertised in 25 community and ethnic newspapers announcing the DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 2 3 DISTRICTING COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING 1 Commission's public hearing schedule. An e-mail 2 blast was sent to over 5,000 individuals and 3 organizations. Various advocacy groups helped 4 spread the word through their individual 5 networks, and the hearing schedule was publicized 6 on Facebook and our Twitter feed. 7 From the look of his room, it seems we are 8 able to reach many of you. Nevertheless, as we 9 go forward in this process, we will seek other 10 additional ways to maximize community 11 participation. 12 Tonight, we continue the first stage of New 13 York City's districting process as laid out in 14 the New York City Charter. After the Commission 15 holds public hearings in each of the five 16 boroughs, the Commission will meet again this 17 Friday at 1:00 P.M. at Council Chambers in City 18 Hall to discuss what we have learned during this 19 process. 20 At this August 24th Commission meeting, we 21 will direct the staff to create a preliminary 22 district plan according to the Commission's 23 instructions. On September 4th at 1:00 P.M. at 24 the Council Chambers in City Hall, the Commission 25 will meet again, this time to review and adopt DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 3 4 DISTRICTING COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING 1 the preliminary district plan that will then be 2 made available for public inspection and comment. 3 Please note that both these meetings will be 4 open to the public, but there will not be any 5 opportunity to speak or make comments, at least 6 not then. The public will have an opportunity to 7 comment on this preliminary district plan during 8 the second round of public hearings held 9 throughout the five boroughs from 5:00 to 10 9:00 P.M. on October 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th and 11 11th. 12 The places are still to be determined, but 13 the venues will be different than the locations 14 that we have previously used in order to maximize 15 opportunities for participation. Comments from 16 this round of public hearings will then be 17 considered during the Commission meeting 18 scheduled for October 18th, where staff will once 19 again be directed to revise the preliminary 20 district plan in response to the comments that we 21 received. 22 At the next Commission meeting, 23 October 30th, the revised plan will be presented, 24 considered and adopted by the Commission. This 25 revised plan will then be delivered to the City DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 4 5 DISTRICTING COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING 1 Council for its inspection and approval by 2 November 5th. 3 According to the City Charter, by 4 November 27th, the council must either adopt the 5 revised district plan, at which point the plan 6 will then be filed with the City Clerk, or the 7 Council can object to the revised district plan, 8 in which case the plan will be returned to the 9 Commission with the Council's comments and 10 objections. 11 The Commission will then have until 12 January 5, 2013 to create a revised plan. This 13 will then set the stage for a new set of public 14 hearings which has been tentatively scheduled for 15 January 18th to February 8th in each of the five 16 boroughs. Again, we aim to have these hearings 17 in different elections from the prior two rounds 18 of public hearings in order to maximize public 19 participation. 20 The Commission will then have until 21 March 5th to create, adopt and submit a final 22 plan to the City Clerk and to the United States 23 Department of Justice for Voting Rights Act 24 Section V preclearance. This process is 25 described in a flow chart that is available for DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 5 6 DISTRICTING COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING 1 you tonight. Another handout that is available 2 are two maps. One map is of the five boroughs 3 with the current City Council district lines, and 4 another is a map of Staten Island with the 5 borough's current City Council district lines. 6 Both maps include total populations within 7 the districts. The population figures in the 8 handouts have already been adjusted to reflect 9 prisoners serving state sentences, but having 10 residences within their respective districts as 11 of the time of the taking of the U.S. Census in 12 2010. The Commission will take into 13 consideration when drawing the district lines. 14 It is also important to keep in mind that, 15 as we conduct these public hearings, we are not 16 writing on a blank slate, but are operating 17 within an established legal framework. The law 18 obligates the Commission to consider during the 19 districting process the following: The total 20 population difference of any district cannot be 21 greater than 10 percent of the average population 22 of all the districts. 23 District lines have to ensure fair and 24 effective representation of racial and language 25 minority groups in New York City. The lines must DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 6 7 DISTRICTING COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING 1 keep neighborhoods in communities with 2 established ties of common interest and 3 association intact. The district line must make 4 contact and must be contiguous, that is to say, 5 next to one another. 6 The lines must keep districts within the 7 boroughs. And, of course, we must avoid 8 diminishing the effective representation of 9 voters. I want to bring to your attention our 10 website, www.nyc.gov/districting. The site is 11 the central repository of all documents and 12 videos relating to the Districting Commission. 13 It also contains a complete schedule of our 14 public hearings and a portal where you can 15 preregister for all hearings and be added to our 16 mailing list. I hope you will visit the site and 17 let us know if it can be made more informative 18 and interactive. 19 One final note. We have a number of 20 speakers tonight, not many, but a number. Each 21 of you has three minutes, which is not very long. 22 Keep in mind, however, we already have a 23 substantial amount of data from the U.S. Census. 24 We will accept and read your written submissions. 25 All of this data is important to our decision. DIAMOND REPORTING (718) 624-7200 [email protected] 7 8 DISTRICTING COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING 1 But your testimony at these hearings is 2 critical as well. In your remarks, tell us about 3 your neighborhoods. Where are its natural 4 boundaries as you see them? So that we can 5 follow your comments, please tell us what Council 6 district you are concerned about and how, if at 7 all, you would like to see it changed. 8 At this point, we will have the 9 commissioners introduce themselves and then we 10 will hear from our first witness. If we can 11 start from that end. 12 MR. WURZEL: Hi, Marc Wurzel. 13 MR. HART: Hi, Rob Hart. I live in the west 14 Brighton section of Staten Island. 15 MR. CERULLO: Hi, Scott Cerullo. I live in 16 the section of Staten Island. 17 MS. HANKS: Kamillah Hanks, I live in the 18 Stapleton section of Staten Island. 19 MR. ODOM: Oscar Odom III, Brooklyn.
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